The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed a former Supreme Court judge to hear an appeal filed by national cricket team batsman Umar Akmal against a three-year ban.
According to a statement issued by the PCB, “Justice (retd) Faqir Muhammad Khokhar has been appointed as an independent judge to hear Umar Akmal’s appeal.”
“Independent judges will set a date for the hearing, after which the PCB will announce,” the statement said.
It may be recalled that the PCB had banned Omar Kamal for three years for violating the anti-corruption code on two different occasions.
The PCB had pronounced the verdict against Umar Akmal on April 27, which was heard at the National Cricket Academy headed by Chairman Disciplinary Panel Justice (retd) Fazal Miran Chauhan.
Omar Akmal appeared before the panel during the hearing while the PCB was represented by Legal Adviser Tafsil Rizvi.
Chairman Disciplinary Panel Justice (retd) Fazal Miran Chauhan, while delivering a brief verdict, had said that Umar Akmal has been banned from playing any form of cricket for three years.
Umar Akmal, who was suspended before the start of the fifth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), was charged with two counts of violating the board’s anti-corruption code.
Omar Akmal was accused of failing to inform the board under the law about access to fixing and violating the board’s anti-corruption code.
Director Anti-Corruption and Security PCB Lt. Col. (retd) Asif Mehmood said that the PCB was not happy about the three-year ban on an international cricketer due to corruption charges but it was a timely reminder for all of them. There are those who think that they can escape by violating the anti-corruption code.
Lt. Col. (retd) Asif Mehmood said that the anti-corruption unit regularly organizes education seminars and refresher courses at all levels to make all cricketers aware of their responsibilities, however, even if some cricketers take the law into their own hands. If you try, then this is the result.
Umar Akmal had filed an appeal against the decision this month and according to the law, the PCB had to form a panel to hear Umar Akmal’s appeal within 15 days